Situational Distresskeyboard_arrow_down

Students taking online courses this Spring may find themselves struggling for a number of reasons. They could be frustrated or nervous about taking online courses, concerned about their progress toward graduation if certain courses aren’t offered online, or they could be worried about the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on their personal life or on society. However, this can also be a time of significant learning and growth. Here are some suggestions for supporting your students:

• Listen! A bit of time to vent and be heard can go a long way, and can open up space for students to think about moving forward.
• Encourage students to be gentle on themselves and on others around them--everyone may be struggling at different points with various aspects of this experience.
• Remind them to take it a day at a time, or even an hour at a time to help reign in some of the stress.
• Recommend workshops and resources that speak to stress-management and resilience.
• Check out the resources here for referrals.
• Invite them to turn the situation around, particularly when it comes to taking courses online. What new skills can they develop? Assertiveness? Self-reliance? What new technologies will they gain experience in? This situation is providing opportunities to develop critical skills that will carry them forward in life.

Communicationkeyboard_arrow_down

One of the biggest challenges for students in online programs is communication. When most or all interactions are asynchronous and online, it can be difficult to diagnose the problem and find a solution. This can take shape many different ways:

• Students may find it hard to ask for help from faculty or advisers;
• If students do ask for help from a faculty member, it is possible for the message to be missed if faculty members aren’t looking for the students message in the same place where the student sent it (was the message sent through Canvas? Email?). Or faculty may be unable to respond based on demands on their time. Either way, if the student doesn’t hear back, they can be impacted academically, and sometimes they make assumptions about why the faculty person didn’t respond;
• The tone and message of email or other written communication isn’t interpreted as intended by the sender. It’s easy for a message to sound curt or insensitive when it wasn’t meant to be, which can cause conflict. Additionally, students may still be learning about corresponding professionally over email.

Suggestions:

• Encourage students to identify their instructors’ preferred communication methods in the first week of the quarter.
• If a student complains that they aren’t hearing back from faculty and it’s been more than a couple days, ask the student how they contacted the instructor and if they know their preferred method of communication. If you are able, you could also reach out to the instructor to see if they’ve received the message and let them know where it was sent.
• Encourage students to give senders the benefit of the doubt if they find themselves upset about the message in an email. If appropriate, students can follow up with a clarifying message delivered in a professional manner.
• If you see the space for it, you can suggest online communication guidelines be put in place for your program or for instructors to adopt these. For programmatic suggestions, see this resource from the online Integrated Social Sciences BA Program.

Additional adviser-sourced strategies if you are having trouble reaching students:

Remember student needs may vary; may need to experiment with different approaches.

Email

• Acknowledge the difficulty of the situation/online learning
• Emphasize concern and provide info to help student make a decision
• Keep messages concise and simple if possible
• Personalize messages
• Follow-up to schedule appointment if asking if they want to schedule doesn’t work
• Gentle reminders
• Set clear deadlines
• Affirm gratitude for response, whenever the student is able to reply
• Including resources in signature
• Send Zoom link in outreach
• Email students at start of drop-in meetings
• Email that if don’t hear by X date will follow up with a call

Research

• Conduct a survey or poll about student preferences/needs

Work Together

• Coordinate with student organizations to help determine student needs
• Coordinate with faculty/colleagues
• Reach out to SafeCampus/LiveWell

Alternative Options

• Make phone calls
• Text messages through Mongoose (learn more from First Year Programs)
• Registration hold

Access to Technologykeyboard_arrow_down

For students to participate in an online course, they need to have the resources to access it. This means that they need to have:

• An adequate desktop computer or laptop: Some students may try to participate in the courses using a tablet or smartphone, which can work for watching lectures, but for writing assignments it’s best to have a computer.
• Access to reliable Internet: Without a means to connect to online courses, students can’t participate, or may only be able to participate in certain aspects of courses. While the applications like Canvas and Zoom are designed to support a massive number of users, the more likely area of failure is the Internet service.
• Application outage: Even though many tools are designed to scale up, certain features can fail at times!
• Internet browser and applications not working properly together. Sometimes certain applications or processes don't work well on all Internet browsers.

Suggestions:

• Refer students to UW-IT for help! Use the name of the technology causing problems in the subject line.
• Canvas also has a way to submit a help ticket within Canvas itself.
• Suggest trying alternate Internet browsers if a student is having trouble getting something to work.
• Online programs typically suggest that students have back-up options for accessing the technology and the Internet services in case they find themselves facing technology problems. However, it may be hard for students to find these services given the current situation with COVID-19.
• Resources and recommendations are being pulled together for students in this situation. One of the already existing resources is the Student Technology Loan Program.

Course Designkeyboard_arrow_down

Whether the course is intended to be online or isn’t, course design is an area that can cause students difficulty. Potential problems can include:

• Courses built without Universal Design principles in mind. Online courses can be designed to support students needing accommodations, but when they aren’t, it can be problematic. If courses are not designed with Universal Design principles in mind from the start they can be challenging to update.
• Lack of clear course structure. If courses are not clearly structured so that students understand how and where to access course materials, when assignments are due, and how to get support when it is needed, it can be very stressful for them.
• Technical problems. Similarly, if the class experiences a lot of technical glitches, it can be frustrating for students particularly if the problem is not addressed in a timely fashion and they are concerned about being able to complete their grade. Given the limited time faculty will have to move their courses online, it’s possible that this will be a challenge many students will experience.
• Lost work. It is possible students may complete assignments in Canvas without saving them, and may lose their work before saving.
• Unfamiliar technologies. Student familiarity with the technologies used to deliver course content may vary. If the tools used are unfamiliar, it’s something extra the students need to learn.

Suggestions:

• Students should connect with the Disability Resources Office if they are struggling with access issues in a class. (See also this DRS Accessility for Remote/Online Learning document.) Faculty needing support with Universal Design can also find resources through the Disability Resources Office, Center for Teaching and Learning, UW-IT's Accessible Technology Services or UW Access College: The Faculty Room.
• Encourage students to review their courses early on in the quarter--read the syllabus (!) and explore their online course space to see how it is organized.
• Students should save their work frequently and back it up. If they are taking a course using Canvas, it's helpful to use Microsoft Word or another text editor to complete the assignment, and then copy it into Canvas or upload the document file.
• It’s helpful for students to access any technologies they aren’t familiar with as early as possible to see how they work. UW-IT provides many helpful tutorials for using tools like Canvas and Zoom.
• Encourage students to reach out to their instructor if they find themselves confused about any aspect of the course. If there are technical issues with the course, it can be helpful to direct those questions to UW-IT and cc the instructor.

Academic Difficultykeyboard_arrow_down

While some of the academic challenges students experience online are similar to what is experienced in on-campus courses, there are some differences to bear in mind. Often students inaccurately assume that online classes are easier than on-campus courses. However, online courses put more pressure on students to be disciplined and self-reliant in navigating their way through the course materials. Common challenges that surface include:

• Motivation: If the student isn’t engaged in their courses or doesn’t have a strong sense of self-motivation, it can be hard for them to show up online.
• Time management: Common challenges include missing the course schedule/deadlines, incorrect estimates of how long it will take to get through course material, lack of prioritization, and challenges integrating school responsibilities with extracurricular, work, or personal responsibilities.
• Access to support resources: Thus far, access to academic support resources online at UW has been limited -- though it was improving even before COVID-19. However, it may still be difficult for students to find support resources online. Access may also be limited if demand is higher than the capacity, and the hours at which support services are offered may not match the student’s availability.

Keep in mind that students who were struggling in on-campus courses may surprise you--they may do better online if they were struggling because it was hard to get to brick-and-mortar classes or if the online environment suits their learning style. However, it’s also possible that they may continue to struggle, especially if they experience any other problems mentioned here.

Suggestions:

• The Academic Support Program has recommendations to support students in online courses -- this an excellent place to refer students, and a fantastic place for advisers to learn more!
• Students should connect with the Disability Resources Office if they are struggling with access issues in a class. (See also this DRS Accessility for Remote/Online Learning document.)
• Check out what some of UW's online BA programs recommend. Integrated Social Sciences has a Success in Online Learning resource page.

Isolationkeyboard_arrow_down

Although online programs and courses can be designed to support a robust and active student community, it is also very easy for a student to feel isolated in an online environment. This is especially true if there are no discussion spaces built into courses or opportunities for students to introduce themselves to one another in the online space. It’s also possible for struggling students to get "lost" online. If they are not looking at their UW email email and don’t have their email forwarded to their personal account, they may never receive messages you are sending them. In other words, if they are not “showing up” online, then it is hard for them to find community online.

Suggestions:

• Think ahead--are there certain students you are already concerned about? Reach out to them early to set up some appointments ahead of time to touch base, or ask them to reach out to you by certain dates. Make a note on your calendar, and if you don’t hear from them that day, reach out.
• Use the phone! Give your student a call.
• Consider scheduling open group conversations for students to meet up. If the group is large, you could set up break out rooms. Or, you could ask them to come prepare to share tips and lessons learned.
• Make yourself and your program visible online. Are there ways you can “show up” so they see that you are still available? Even if they don’t reach out, your presence online can still bring a sense of stability.